Convergent explanation and alternative regularization patterns:<i>Were/weren't</i>leveling in a vernacular English variety

Schilling‐Estes, Natalie; Wolfram, Walt

doi:10.1017/s0954394500001691

Cited by 139 publications

(113 citation statements)

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“…Walker & Sidnell 2011) and attested differences in leveling of forms of BE in past and nonpast contexts in other varieties of English (e.g. Schilling-Estes & Wolfram 1994;Britain 2002;Schreier 2002). 6 It might be desirable to have more fine-grained distinctions than this.…”

Section: M P L I C a T I O N S A N D C O N C L U S I O Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

An existential problem: The sociolinguistic monitor and variation in existential constructions on Bequia (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

Meyerhoff¹,

Walker²

2013

Lang. Soc.

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Existential constructions in a corpus of spontaneous English from Bequia (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) are used to explore a linguistic problem (Is variation in verb form in existential constructions best viewed as grammatical or lexical?) and a sociolinguistic problem (What aspects of variation change over a lifetime?). We compare "urban sojourners" (Bequians who have been away) with their home village norms. We observe differences in the frequency of the TYPE of existential preferred in different villages and by the urban sojourners. We also observe differences in whether or not the main verb agrees in number with a postposed plural subject. Building on William Labov's early discussions of constraints on variation imposed by the "sociolinguistic monitor," we suggest that variation in individual speakers supports the notion that variables that are fundamentally grammatical are less likely to mark social factors than lexical variables are. (Bequia, Caribbean English, existentials, subject-verb agreement)* I N T R O D U C T I O NExistential constructions are a topic of special interest to linguists because of their implications for theories of subject-verb agreement (e.g. Chomsky 1995; van Gelderen 1997). The examples in (1) and (2) demonstrate variation in (what we initially call) agreement in different existential constructions in the English-based varieties spoken on the island of Bequia (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) in the Eastern Caribbean (see Figure 1). Existential BE may occur as morphologically singular (1a-c) or plural (2a-b), with standard (1a, 2a) or nonstandard (1b-c, 2b) agreement with

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Section: M P L I C a T I O N S A N D C O N C L U S I O Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

An existential problem: The sociolinguistic monitor and variation in existential constructions on Bequia (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

Meyerhoff¹,

Walker²

2013

Lang. Soc.

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“…Third person NPs show a clear distinction between contexts in which the NP is postposed to the verb (i.e., existential constructions) and those in which it occurs in canonical subject position. Was is more frequent in the former and less frequent in the latter (Christian et al, 1988;Eisikovits, 1991;Feagin, 1979;Schilling-Estes & Wolfram, 1994;Wolfram & Christian, 1976). Third person personal pronoun they, on the other hand, is the context least likely to exhibit nonstandard was (Eisikovits, 1991;Feagin, 1979), and we tends to pattern with it.…”

Section: A D I a C H R O N I C P E R S P E C T I V E On Was/were V A mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This result is consistent with many other quantitative studies that have been conducted on was/ were variation. For example^ Schilling-Estes and Wolfram (1994), in their study of Ocracoke English in North Carolina, discovered restricted leveling with was (approximately 20% overall) and even less leveling with were (4%). The results of Cheshire's (1982) study of adolescents in Reading showed an overall tendency (around 85%) to use the single past tense form was, regardless of whether the subject was singular or plural, whereas were was used in approximately 4% of the cases where the singular should have been employed.…”

Section: Distributional Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Was/werevariation across the generations: View from the city of York

1998

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In this article, I describe a new research project on York English (YrkE), a variety in northeast England. In addition to providing the first systematic linguistic documentation of YrkE, I conduct a quantitative analysis of a linguistic feature which not only is well documented in the literature, but also recurs pervasively in varieties of English worldwide-was/were variation in the past tense paradigm. Two separate tendencies are observed, neither of which can be explained by any unidimensional notion of analogical leveling of the paradigm: (1) nonstandard was in existential constructions, and (2) nonstandard were in negative tags. Both trends can be tracked in apparent time in which the contrasting behavior of men and women reveals that women are leading both types of linguistic change. In other contexts, nonstandard was is a synchronic remnant which can be traced to earlier stages in the history of English.The verb to be is an interesting element of the English language. Described by Lass (1992:139) as "a collection of semantically related paradigms of various historical origins," it is basically what Pyles and Algeo (1993:127) called "a badly mixed up verb." "Most dialects have forms which differ from Standard English grammar at least in some respects" (Trudgill, 1990:98), particularly the use of was in contexts where were is required in standard English grammar (e.g., you was, we was, and they was). This variation is so endemic that Chambers (1995:242) identified it as one of the primitives of vernacular dialects of English all over the world.In the last two of decades, was/were variation has been studied in nearly all the major countries where English is spoken: the United Kingdom (Britain, forth-

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“…Weren't-leveling is found in other communities in addition to Smith Island; for examples see Schilling-Estes andWolfram (1994),Britain (2002), Schilling-Estes and, andWolfram and Schilling-Estes (2003).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Variable rules meet Impoverishment theory: Patterns of agreement leveling in English varieties

Nevins

Parrott

2010

Lingua

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Convergent explanation and alternative regularization patterns:Were/weren'tleveling in a vernacular English variety

Cited by 139 publications

References 15 publications

An existential problem: The sociolinguistic monitor and variation in existential constructions on Bequia (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

An existential problem: The sociolinguistic monitor and variation in existential constructions on Bequia (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

Was/werevariation across the generations: View from the city of York

Variable rules meet Impoverishment theory: Patterns of agreement leveling in English varieties

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